WASHINGTON, July 31 (UPI) -- The House Tuesday passed a bill that will help thousands of U.S. Marines and their families sickened by contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
The measure, previously passed by the Senate, was approved on a voice vote after rules were suspended and will go to President Barack Obama for his signature, McClatchy Newspapers reported.
As many as a million people were exposed to drinking water tainted by trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, benzene and vinyl chloride at the Marine base near Jacksonville, N.C., the newspaper chain said.
There was no immediate response from Marine Corps officials regarding the congressional action, McClatchy said.
Military personnel and their family members who have one of the conditions listed in the bill will receive healthcare provided they'd lived or worked at least 30 days on the base from 1957 to 1987.
Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., one of the lawmakers who pushed for its passage, noted it "has been a long time coming."
"I'm kind of torn between thinking that it should not have been this hard and thinking it's remarkable that it's happened," Miller said. "I think the Marines and the Navy have not behaved well through all of this. Their reluctance to admit the water was contaminated, and the health effects of the contamination, has been shameful."
Alex Rindler, policy associate at the Environmental Working Group, which advocated for the bill, said it may help the families "finally start to heal from this tragedy."
"Today, we celebrate an America that came together to take care of its own, but we are also reminded of those still in need of treatment," Rindler said.
Passage of the bill had been pushed for years by retired Marine Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger, whose daughter Janey died of leukemia at age 9, and Mike Partain, son and grandson of Marine officers who was born at the base in 1968 and developed male breast cancer at age 39, the group said.
Their efforts inspired an Oscar-shortlisted documentary, "Semper Fi: Always Faithful."
"Well, I know she's watching," Ensminger said of his daughter. "And by God, she's made more of a change in this world through her death than most people make in their entire lives."
